Oh. Hey, Reddit. I'm Avery Monsen. Jory John's here, too. We wrote and illustrated "All My Friends Are Dead" and some other books. Ask us whatever! Let's do this thing!

HERE'S PROOF THAT I'M ME: http://imgur.com/vaWxx


EDIT! It's been a wild ride, Reddit. We've been answering questions for the last 9 hours. Let's recap.

The ups: we got to talk to so many amazingly nice people. You're so great and we can't thank you enough for your kindness. Seriously. We love you.

The downs: Some people were angry that we're not Turbonegro. (After 9 hours, we're not totally convinced that we're not Turbonegro, but maybe that's another AMA for another day.)

Some people had never heard of our books. (For anyone still confused, you can read free excerpts here: http://www.nomorefriends.net/) Overall, I think we all learned a little bit about ourselves. Would we do it again? In a heartbeat. I drew this for you: http://imgur.com/VQKoI (Jory approved.)

You're simply the best. We're done for the night, but we'll be back to tie up loose ends. Feel free to tweet at us if you've got an urgent question... @averymonsen & @joryjohn.

Your dudes, Avery M and Jory J

Comments: 842 • Responses: 40  • Date: 

pasta_monster284 karma

Do you listen to a lot of Turbonegro?

averymonsen251 karma

Haha. To the best of our knowledge, we were making "All my friends are dead" dinosaur shirts the year before the Turbonegro song came out. We don't want to start any beef with them, though. We can't handle beef. We're terrible in a fight and we have no health insurance.

lmhtg259 karma

I can honestly say that showing your book to a girl got me laid once.

Thanks.

averymonsen321 karma

THIS AMA IS HEATING UP! Details, buddy?!

MrSomeone84185 karma

I love your sense of humour!

More info: http://nomorefriends.net/

averymonsen112 karma

Hey, thanks! We did our best.

dsies157 karma

Hello excellent book writers,

I love the dinosaur. So much in fact, that I had it tattooed on my arm while me and my wife were visiting some friends in NYC.

Please don't sue me for copyright infringement :(

http://i.imgur.com/mw1oQ.jpg

averymonsen223 karma

OH MY CHRIST THAT IS AMAZING. If there is a polar opposite to suing you, I will do that!

Seriously: that's so awesome. You totally just made my day.

dhizkanichioko113 karma

I think the opposite would be to give him money.

averymonsen135 karma

Or maybe I serve as dsies's lawyer, and we sue co-author Jory John. How does that sound?

Irish-Ink83 karma

"All my friends are dead" is on my end table, I force drunk friends to read it when were hanging out.

Joryjohn68 karma

First off: Perfect place for the book! Second off: Great drunken activity! Third off: Make us a video, the next time everybody's drunk and reading!

Irish-Ink40 karma

I'll put a note on my fridge to remind my drunk future self to do this!

averymonsen117 karma

While you're at it, remind drunk future self to take an Advil. Head that hangover off at the pass!

(This AMA sponsored by Advil.)

d-nj52 karma

What are your favorite porn websites?

averymonsen167 karma

Jared619753 karma

That link is purple, should I be scared?
edit: I love your book by the way.

averymonsen18 karma

Thanks!

danfinlay41 karma

Clearly you two know how to turn a shirt into a book. Are there any shirts out there that you think are begging for books to be written based on them?

averymonsen100 karma

Blue button-up.

Joryjohn80 karma

White polo.

averymonsen89 karma

Beige turtleneck.

ArnaldoPalmer34 karma

what are your day jobs? (assuming you two don't make enough to live on from these books. if i am incorrect, then i'm sorry and congratulations! that's awesome)

averymonsen101 karma

I live mostly off the books. (I EAT ONLY RAMEN.)

I'm also an actor. I've been in a couple commercials and I perform at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in NY.

ArnaldoPalmer30 karma

ha. holy shit. just looked at your performers page. i've seen Beige. you guys are really good!

averymonsen39 karma

Whoa! Neat! Thanks! Our next show is on Monday night, if you're free.

ArnaldoPalmer21 karma

i usually go to Maude night. I'm a sketch comedy nerd. the only reason i know about this AMA is because of yesterday when I was refreshing reddit waiting for Odenkirk's AMA to start.

averymonsen21 karma

Awesome. Well, come up and say hi if you're around!

sharirose31 karma

"All my friends are bread!" -Peeta Mellark Will there be a potential "All My Friends Are Dead" threequel?

averymonsen29 karma

Haha. That's amazing. Actually, now that I think about it, "All my friends are dead" pretty much applies to all the tributes.

Threequel: not sure! It depends on whether people buy the sequel. It also depends on whether we can come up with something that we don't think is dumb. We don't want to "George Lucas" ourselves*.

*George Lucassing: Ruining something cool by making stupid sequels. And then growing a terrible beard.

danfinlay25 karma

Obviously someone has to ask: How has your opinion of New York changed since moving there?

Joryjohn36 karma

You seem too have some inside information, danfinlay.

averymonsen53 karma

(danfinlay's referencing our book, "I Feel Relatively Neutral About New York.") Yeah, NY has really grown on me. There are so many things to do and see and smell! I recommend it.

achillies4720 karma

The scene with the puppet ಠ_ಠ

averymonsen22 karma

ಠ_ಠ, indeed.

Joryjohn16 karma

The scene with the puppet is what I call a "typical Friday night."

achillies475 karma

ಠ_ಠ

averymonsen20 karma

YoungRL12 karma

Are you on a Mac? Can you see the "Look of Disapproval" or is all you see a couple of squares with an underscore between them?

averymonsen7 karma

Yes! Shoot! What am I supposed to be seeing?

YoungRL7 karma

Here, download the font that's on this page: http://lookofdisapproval.info/

:]

averymonsen8 karma

Is this a trap?

JVA22215 karma

Two things-- I went looking for all the old blog posts about Foffies and couldn't find anything. Where are they? For three years now, my fantasy baseball team has been The Foffies. Also, how can I get AMFAD in German?

averymonsen14 karma

I'm so glad to hear the Foffies have lived on. As long as you believe, they'll be there.

Also: AMFAD in German.

[deleted]15 karma

So...really....are all your friends really dead? :(

Joryjohn25 karma

Eventually they will be. Such is life. :(

averymonsen56 karma

We refer to our living friends as "pre-corpses."

PowerCrumpet14 karma

This is pretty much my favourite toilet book. Every time I sit down to lay down some business, I get the biggest smile on my face. Thanks for the book! What made you guys choose the creamy yellow for the cover? It's delicious!

averymonsen16 karma

Thanks! As I recall, we were trying to pick something sunny that'd contrast with the dark content of the book. Glad it worked for you!

(Also, can we use that "lay down some business" stuff as a quote? Amazing.)

MrLunde8 karma

Great book! Thats all

averymonsen11 karma

Thanks, MrLunde! We did our best.

lexoram7 karma

Hey, great book.

Were there any ideas you wanted to put in the book but could not as it is (somewhat) aimed at children?

averymonsen50 karma

In the sequel, there's a page where a horse says "All my friends are glue." We were going to have the next page be a little girl eating glue saying "All your friends are delicious." Actually, here, take a look: http://imgur.com/3hXMI.

NOBODY ELSE HAS EVER SEEN THIS, REDDIT. TOP SECRET SHIT!

We just thought it seemed too gross. So we changed to joke to a sad glue bottle saying "I won the Kentucky Derby three times."

I guess the answer is: we really didn't think about kids when we wrote it. We just felt like that page was a little off-putting to anyone, so we changed it.

catwhisperer5506 karma

Cool AMA, thanks!

Which "character," if you will, in All My Friends Are Dead is your favorite? I'm quite a fan of the plant asking you to stop slowly killing his friends...

averymonsen17 karma

I think my favorite character to draw was the ventriloquist. There's something profoundly disturbing about that dude. Also, for a while, I couldn't get the body to look quite right, so I took some pictures of myself posing as if I were making out with a puppet. I spend a few minutes every day praying that no one sees those pictures.

icemancometh6 karma

I LOVE your book. What kind of person did you have in mind as an ideal reader for this book?

averymonsen28 karma

Thanks! Honestly, we just wrote what we thought was funny without imagining an audience. But if I had to pick a person, I'd say former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

trigger90905 karma

Have you made any new, living friends yet?

averymonsen6 karma

Our mothers ask us this all the time.

postingforthemasses5 karma

what ever happened to big stone head?

averymonsen4 karma

Ah, good ol' Big Stone Head. For those who don't know, it was a comic Jory and I wrote a few years ago about two Easter Island stone heads. One never spoke. It was the first thing we worked on together. It was a ton of fun, but I think we're too busy now to start it up again. Glad you liked it, though!

parsonsprojects4 karma

Who inspires you? Comedians? Artists?

averymonsen18 karma

Comedians: My favorites right now are John Mulaney and Louis CK.

Artists: I've got this awesome book of Charley Harper's stuff that I go through all the time. Also, comics by Kate Beaton. She's the best.

(Jory adds: Shel Silverstein and Matt Groening and James Thurber.)

slankywolfacorn4 karma

Are they?

averymonsen13 karma

Unfortunately, yes. We're accepting applications for replacements, though.

Joryjohn7 karma

Applications until March 31. Interviews in April.

averymonsen10 karma

Please bring a list of references and be prepared to sit around and watch "Back to the Future" with us.

Joryjohn5 karma

"Manure. I hate manure." — Biff Tannen

averymonsen8 karma

"Menudo. I hate Menudo." — Ricky Martin

(This is the kind of hilarious wordplay you can expect when you're friends with us.)

bill_snailer4 karma

Are you and Jory going to get naked at Comic-Con?

averymonsen7 karma

We will be at the Chronicle Books booth at Comic-Con, signing books.

We will be naked.

SHdude4 karma

Where's the movie?!

danfinlay3 karma

Beat me to it! I bet they won't answer this, because it's too edgy.

averymonsen11 karma

You bet wrong, Finlay. I'd love to hear your pitches! What would it be? Just "The Land Before Time"?

danfinlay11 karma

Whoa, you COULD probably just re-brand The Land!

My shot:

I was thinking it starts with you and Jory each waking up in the morning to discover the world is startlingly empty, like in the Twilight Zone's "Where is Everybody?". You manage to find each other downtown, and just as you utter the titular line (to Jory's chagrin, or vice versa, you'll probably fight for that line)- you encounter one of the lonely characters from your books.

That's right, it's mixed with animation, Roger Rabbit style, all in the style of the book. Anyways, these lonely characters blame you guys for creating them so lonely, but they insist they have no idea where all YOUR friends are. Anyways, you bandy up with some of them, have to be careful of others, it'd be a movie so there's a lot of different interactions that you'd have to flesh out, but ultimately maybe it turns out that one of the characters was so lonely they zapped you into your book land, so you could be lonely too, so you have to defeat him or turn him or something.

Either that or it turns out all your friends were just hiding, and then the animated friends you made along the way are like "well then I guess all your friends aren't dead after all…" but then you guys say "Neither are yours… anymore!!!" And it's a big sappy ending with you guys and all your animated characters, probably try to knock it out of the park bigger than "An Allegory."

I'm a fan of multiple endings, too, so probably just do both or more.

averymonsen10 karma

I am currently writing you a huge, novelty check. Your pitch has been greenlit. CONGRATS! (The check will bounce. Sorry.)

williemcbride4 karma

What are your favorite fast food places?

Joryjohn14 karma

This is a sad-but-very-true story: the woman at my local Taco Bell knows my order by heart. I think that says way too much about me. And I think that answers your question.

williemcbride6 karma

Haha, that's alright, the lady at my video store knows my name and phone number, and she knows my voice over the phone.

Joryjohn9 karma

The local Blockbuster kiosk inside Safeway knows that I rented Justin Timberlake's "In Time" the other day.

averymonsen5 karma

How was that, by the way?

averymonsen10 karma

If you're in New York, check out Maoz. Quick, cheap falafels with a huge condiments bar. TWO THUMBS UP!

Joryjohn11 karma

Your answer is far less sad than mine is.

averymonsen9 karma

Cheer up, buddy! The guys at Subway know my name.

stripeysweaters4 karma

This book is hilarious, yet sad. I have a little dinosaur that sits in my car and I feel like I should read it to him.

Anyway. You guys wrote about the comedians and artists that inspire you, but what kind of music do you turn on and dance to when you brainstorm?

Thanks again for writing one of the weirdest-yet-humorous books I've ever read!

averymonsen8 karma

Thanks!

When I'm drawing, I usually listen to podcasts. The "All My Friends Are Dead" illustrations were fueled by Comedy Bang Bang (although I think it was Deathray at the time), Doug Loves Movies, and WTF. And Radiolab! Love me some Radiolab!

Tune-wise, I've been listening to a bunch of early Elvis Costello, recently. Or Sam Amidon if I'm trying to chill.

cero543 karma

Awesome work, great job.

averymonsen7 karma

Double-thanks a double-million! (I'm more grateful than Jory.)